Earnings: Greenbrier, WD-40 and Xyratex are among a small list of companies scheduled to report quarterly results.

THE BREAKFAST BRIEFING

Nothing like a slew of central bankers to come in and rescue a wobbly stock market.

Or, exacerbate the problem.

Between statements from the Bank of Japan, European Central Bank and the Bank of England, as well as speeches from four Fed officials scheduled throughout the day, investors will have plenty of central-bank fodder to chew on. The action comes as major U.S. stock indexes potentially sit on the cusp of their first significant pullback of the year.

“So many people have been calling for a pullback that the worry now is any whiff of negative news is going to be the trigger that moves the market lower,” Robert Pavlik, chief market strategist at Banyan Partners in New York, said in a chat with MarketBeat.

The Nikkei closed up 2.2% at 12634.54 after the BOJ’s decision to launch an aggressive new easing program, a move involving a major expansion of government bond purchases including buying longer-term debt. In the process it added a new set of initials to the alphabet soup of postcrisis monetary measures- QQE (qualitative and quantitative easing)

European stocks have yet followed suit, although they are a little higher. The EuroStoxx 50 was last up 0.5%.

In Europe, the Bank of England is expected to leave base rates unchanged when it reports at 1100 GMT, and is not expected to increase its asset purchase program. The European Central Bank is also expected to leave rates unchanged when it reports at 1145 GMT.

Some traders were spooked yesterday by comments from San Francisco Fed President John Williams, who said the economy may have strengthened enough for the Fed to start tapering its bond purchases as early as this summer. Any additional whiffs that the Fed could shift its bond-buying positioning won’t sit well with the markets, especially since the Fed’s steady policies have been a major underpinning of the four-year-old bull market.

After hitting a series of record highs, stocks have struggled to maintain momentum of late. The Dow has alternated between gains and losses in each of the past nine trading days, with yesterday’s 111-point decline marking its third-biggest drop of the year.

The fact that defensive stocks are still leading the way, while small caps and transports continue to struggle, have caused investors to question how much stamina the rally has left.

On the economic front, ADP’s weaker-than-expected report stoked concerns that the government’s jobs report on Friday could fall short of expectations. Economists at Deutsche Bank, Credit Suisse and High Frequency Economics cut their forecasts for Friday’s report following the ADP data.

Considering the fact that the economy has slowed in each of the past three springs, traders are on high alert for signs of another repeat this time around.

Morning MarketBeat Daily Factoid: On this day in 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated at a hotel in Memphis, Tenn. He was 39 years old.

–Steven Russolillo and David Cottle

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Stocks to Watch

Facebook Inc. shares are expected to be active on Thursday with the social-media company scheduled to host an Android product announcement.

As is customary with these kinds of events, Facebook provided few details other than what, when and a link. But the investment community and the media have been busy with speculation that Mark Zuckerberg’s company will launch a smartphone that operates a Facebook-friendly software.

China to Pass U.S. as Top Oil Importer: “With the North American shale boom reducing U.S. import needs, China is expected to be the world’s largest oil importer by 2014, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries said.”

Writing on the Wall: Wall Street for Dummies: “If you thought you knew Wall Street, well, think again. You don’t. Wall Street continues to confound even the people who’ve worked in the industry for decades, writes David Weidner.”